Integrated steelmaker US Steel expects to fire up its pig iron caster at its Gary Works steel mill Indiana in the first quarter.
The $60mn caster, which will can produce 500,000 short tons/yr of pig iron, is being built at US Steel's largest steelmaking operation, which has a nameplate production rate of 7.5mn st/yr of raw steel when all blast furnaces are running. The 1.5mn st/yr blast furnace No. 8 is idled amid an oversupplied finished steel market.
The additional pig iron capacity comes as US steelmakers grapple with a global shortage of the key feedstock following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has caused prices for pig iron to decouple from ferrous scrap. The two countries combined to supply nearly two-thirds of US pig iron imports in 2021.
When operational, the caster will provide half of the metallics requirements for US Steel's 3.3mn st/yr electric arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled Big River Steel mill in northeast Arkansas. Big River's capacity will nearly double in 2024 when US Steel completes a second EAF complex adjacent to the existing Osceola site.
The company is still evaluating the conversion of its Granite City steel mill in Illinois from steelmaking to 2mn st/yr of granulated pig iron through an agreement that would have SunCoke take possession of the facility.
